What is the best track to test cars?

[thepineapple1]

I don't know why people say the Nurburgring....its a loooong track thats just punishment on a car more than anything and your driving is the biggest factor, not the cars...I think people may be saying it because theres so many Nurb fanboys out there.

It seems someone has yet to beat the GT-R record.

 

[mrkevans]

Trial mountain, this classic track is a masterpiece that's featured since gt1 and has perfect balance of fast/slow corners for testing and tuning a car.

 

[Ferrari_1996]

I normally use Fuji Speedway. It has some good qualities for example a long straight to test the car's top speed and a hard braking zone to test the brakes.

 

[ka-mai]

I'm gonna go out of line with everbody and take Deep Forest.

Some bends that tighten considerably on the exit, slow corners, high speed corners, that damn rock wall on the left hander following the change of elevation and direction and the same time (perfect to test a cars' balance) and so on.
If I can nail a selection of the corners perfectly, I know I'm getting close to my set up. Especially the first tunnel until the "rock wall bend" and the last corner. And that track is short enough so you can retry and rule out driving mistakes you make on a lap to compare lap times on "pefect laps".

Yeah I'm with you on this. I like DF too. I know it like the back of my hand, mainly thanks to grinding in the Extreme European Championship race for cash, before the Seasonals started paying so well. It does have a bit of everything, and is nice and short, up and down, also. You get my vote :-) - can quickly get a feel for a car on this.

 

[mralexf1]

It is Nurburgring because of the variety of turns. There are fast, medium and slow turns. That's why you can try a car in a lot of conditions.

 

[ItsHim]

Suzuka - got about everything one needs.

 

[PanozGT2]

Ive been using the full length Madrid. Good front straight, kink into double apex..downhill braking zone...long slow corners...fast right hander...long roundabout hairpin...then a chicane...no chance of cutting time either.

 

[MitchZ06]

It seems someone has yet to beat the GT-R record.

You're on about what now?

 

[Ferrari_1996]

The GT-R Official Record Trophy? I've done it. It isn't that hard.

 

[AmyUD06]

As much as everyone hates it, I use the full Cape Ring for a lot of car testing. The course has just about every type of turn you can have, and a a decently long main straight too.

 

[berty1979]

I dont think its quite right for testing but just wanted to say, I like cape ring and im baffled as to why people hate it so much.

 

[Menown]

I like all the parts of Cape Ring, I just don't like doing the whole thing in one go. The road course part of Twin Ring mont-thingy from GT4 was a good test track, apart from the lack of elevation change.

 

[alx-ndr]

Nurburgring for road cars.
Fuji speedway and Suzuka for race cars.

 

[cj10]

Definately tsukuba

 

[Sohvakettu]

Nordschleife is a good real life test track for road cars because it has varying surfaces and conditions in one lap, but i wouldn't use it for performance car testing when the aim is racing. I think Suzuka would probably be better for that.

 

[PawnBoy]

I used to use Trial Mountain for all my cars, but once the record board got dominated by race cars I decided to split off and use longer and faster tracks (i.e. the ring) for faster vehicles, and reserve Trial Mountain for the affordable sports cars.

 

[mrluckypants]

I use HSR Because of the straight-line speeed, the different sized corners, and the fact that all my laptimes are on that track.

 

[Johnnypenso]

You really need at least two tracks for testing. A rolling, varying camber, up and down track like Deep Forest perhaps or Trial Mountain and a flatter track like Tsukuba for the slower cars and perhaps Nurb GP/D or Road Course Indy for the faster cars. If I had to pick just one, I'd say Deep Forest because it presents all the challenges in one track.

I try to stick to the shorter test tracks to get laps in faster and more laps overall. Adds up when you are tuning 2 or three cars for 30-40 laps.

Oh yeah, and I always, always, test online. Makes a big difference in a lot of cars, gripwise.

 

[Riffo]

I like to use Tokyo for fine tuning since I like drifting my cars around fast corners and I want nice top speed along that huge straight.

 

[C-ZETA]

If you want a short track, go with the Grand Valley Speedway. If you want a long track, then go with the Nordschleife.

 

[s10train]

I prefer to test on High Speed Ring Reverse, Laguna Seca, or Trial Mountain.

 

[exiledfrenchy]

I'd never would have taught that Deep Forest would get so much positive feedback. I always taught everybody was bored with it.
But I agree with those who said that 1 track is not enough to fully set up a car. However in my view, it's enough to get the base tune on your car and then adapt it to the one you're actually driving on.

 

[Smuttysy]

If you just want fast, slow and medium corners then SSr7 is just as good as any other really. Slow ones at either end, medium ones through other parts and most others taken flat out.

Honestly, I only use TGTT for testing the overall handling performance of the cars, purely because I know it well and can get consistent times on it, which is all you really need in order to compare your cars with.

 

[SmileyOr1]

It is very important to be able to get consistent times on a test track as stated above. If you can't be consistant, tweaking may not show you anything. I know, because my times are so inconsistant that what works for me one day is very difficult to control the next

OK, seriously now. My first two sentences above are truthful. It also depends on how serious you want to be and how much time you're willing to put into it. I typically lower everything to the max for flat circuits where I won't be bouncing off curbs too much. Then I tweak depending on how the car feels. Loose in front? soften the front end. Squirelly out of corners? soften the rear end.

I have not tried to improve my best times beyond winning an event. Once I get that far I move on to the next car and event.

 

[chaoticyinyang]

De La Sarthe 2009 is the main course I've been using for experimenting with a setup; gives me an idea on handing and brakes within the first 30 seconds, and then any issues on a straight-a-way. Then if I feel pretty confident about the setup I'll do Trial Mountain! More turns but still not as ridiculous as Nurberg....

 

[bigberry]

Deep Forest is where I test . You can hit 160mph on the straight into a hairpin which will show if you have understeer or power oversteer etc

Then you have a bumpy section followed by a double apex left by the rocks. In 10 seconds I can identify where the car is good/bad or indifferent.

In my view if I like the car on Deep forest its good to go.

 

[dej8]

I usually go with la sarthe just due to it being my favorite track but the other options I go with are laguna seca or the daytona road course. La sarthe is good but you can run into gearing problems on the straights unless you're tuning just for that track, same goes for daytona. But the laguna corkscrew is a true test for a cars handling plus it's got a decent length straight with sharp turns. IMO.

 

[Vitzio]

I use Eiger Nordwand (short track) mainly just to test the car's cornering. I used to use the Nürburgring Nordschleife, but it's too long if all you want to do is feel how the car drives.

 

[Eric.]

I use Deep Forest. Great for testing a car's stability, performance in constant radius turns, the two fast lefts at the end, and the downhill/bumpy/uphill long halfway through can really make a bad car stick out. If a car performs well here, it'll probably handle the Ring well.

 

[Anna+Reece]

I use La Sarthe 2005 (No Chicanes). Mulsanne straight for testing the car's speed and acceleration, there are a lot of small bumps to test the car's stability, and plenty of corners to test handling and braking.